1. Field of the Disclosure
The present application relates generally to projectile containment assembly safety devices and, more specifically, to a projectile containment assembly or wall assembly which includes a removable inspection panel forming a portion or all of one or more shoot house walls.
2. Description of the Related Art
Certain personnel such as police and members of the armed forces have jobs that require them to carry and use fire arms. For their own and the public's safety, armed personnel must be properly trained. Traditionally, much of this training occurs at firing ranges. However, for these personnel to safely use their firearms, a large portion of training must occur in more realistic settings. To accomplish this, additional training may occur on specifically designed assault courses including structures commonly known as shoot houses. These structures provide for many actual combat situations where trainees must quickly and accurately identify and respond to realistic threats to their safety.
To better simulate actual combat situations, training is generally conducted in groups using live ammunition. Since personnel may need to quickly fire their weapon as they enter a room, it is necessary that the shoot house walls be able to withstand the impact of multiple rounds of ammunition. Shoot house walls must also be constructed to prevent bullets from ricocheting off the wall and injuring trainees. Traditional shoot houses were originally constructed out of concrete, tires, or gravel filled walls. As technology improved, shoot houses have become more sophisticated and better able to stop bullets and ricocheting. However, even with current technology, shoot house walls may fail without warning.
Firing ranges pose many of the same threats to nearby personnel as a shoot house. The ranges must be configured in a manner that will stop bullets and prevent ricocheting bullets from injuring anyone nearby. Projectile containment assemblies are commonly used in both shoot house walls and firing ranges to stop projectiles and prevent ricocheting by slowing down and capturing the projectile.
Projectile containment assemblies are of widely varying configurations, from a single layer of solid concrete or thick steel, to a plurality of layers of various materials. By way of example, a containment assembly used in a known shoot house wall consists of a fixed containment assembly having three layers: a thick concrete anterior and posterior layer with and interior containment assembly layer consisting of a material to absorb and capture any bullets or fragments that may ricochet off the wall.
More recently, modular projectile containment assemblies have been developed which are comprised of modular containment assembly panels having a bullet retaining layer spaced from an impenetrable core layer, secured to a base member. One such example is a projectile containment assembly modular wall assembly having a bullet retaining layer made of ballistic rubber spaced from an impenetrable layer made of steel and secured to a modular base member. Bullets fired at the wall pass through the ballistic rubber, shatter on the steel back of the panel. A device may be placed below the space between the ballistic rubber layer and the steel layer to capture and retain any resulting projectile fragments.
Projectile containment assemblies pose a significant threat to safety in that they may fail without warning if the various containment assembly layers become weakened or worn with prolonged use. Failure of the projectile containment assembly may then allow projectiles or bullets to impact the wall being protected damaging the wall and, ultimately, causing failure of the wall. What is needed an apparatus which will provide early indication or warning of an imminent failure of the projectile containment assembly or wall assembly.